Rucker tells his story

Monday, June 10, 2013 – "Songtellers with Darius Rucker: The Story of True Believers" premierer\s Thursday, June 20 at 10 p.m. eastern on Great American Country.

Filmed at Nashville's Belcourt Theatre, Rucker shares the stage with each of the co-writers from his just-released chart-topping LP, "True Believers," and before they perform their collaboration, share inside stories and jokes about their writing process.

"Back in the Hootie days all the songs I wrote, I wrote by myself. I used to think I had to be inspired to write something and I learned in Nashville that you can write whenever you want," said Rucker.

"This record is so much my life. Either the life I'm living now or the life I have lived or the life I want to live," Rucker said before performing Radio, a song about the time when car radio was king, with writers Luke Laird and Ashley Gorley. All-star songwriters appearing in the 60-minute special include Rucker's producer Frank Rogers (Miss You), Dallas Davidson and Rhett Akins (Heartbreak Road), Bob DiPiero (Lie To Me), Phillip White and Mark Nesler (Lost In You) and Josh Kear (True Believers, I Will Love You Still). Artist Mallary Hope joins Rucker on stage, providing vocals on I Will Love You Still.

Rucker's two-week number one hit, Wagon Wheel (Bob Dylan, Ketch Secor) was the finale with all the songwriters on stage for a group sing. "When we were playing and I was looking around, I couldn't count the number ones from the guys that were on that stage, and it was just deep to realize that all those guys took their time to write with me."

CD reviews for Darius Rucker

Darius Rucker is so darn likeable, he likely gets away with creating subpar music more than most. However, "When Was the Last Time" is a consistently good album, which is as respectable as it is likeable.
Rucker knows how to sing crowd pleasers, like the fun and funny "Count the Beers" and the all-star collaboration "Straight to Hell," which also features Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan and Charles Kelley. He shines brightest, though, on the more serious songs. »»»

Although opener "Homegrown Honey" has a few hip-hip sonic elements fueling it, "Southern Style" is a fairly traditional - well, as traditional as Darius Rucker can get - album. "Homegrown Honey," along with the title cut and "Half Full Dixie Cup," make a play for Rucker's Southern credentials, and for the most part support these claims. Rucker is an easygoing vocalist, and this latest effort goes down smoothly.
It's still taboo for country »»»

When it came time for Darius Rucker to throw his hat into the holiday album ring, he was clearly aiming for the old school, traditional realm of such things. The heavy orchestration for these 12 songs hearkens back to the days when crooners like Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra tracked Christmas projects, rather than anything that might pass for country.
With that said, though, Rucker represents himself quite well with this traditional album of (mostly) familiar Christmas songs. »»»

Editorial: Walking the talk –
When names like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon and the Hag are invoked, you're talking hard core country. These are the touchstones of country , the guys who made country music what it was and still is (or maybe can be). When these folks would sing about being down-and-out and the rough-and-tumble, they knew of what they were singing about. Fast forward a few years to the country singers of today. »»»

Concert Review: Stapleton shows his traditional roots –
Chris Stapleton's All-American Road show feels like a singular mission to rid the genre of the bro country scourge that has plagued it for years. He came out with a blazing one-two punch of "Second One To Know" and "Without Your Love" and packed a stadium sized onslaught into a 9,000-seat arena. He never once veered from his... »»»

Concert Review: Jinks wins over fans, especially new ones –
Cody Jinks asked the crowd a bit into his show how many had never seen him before. It seemed like Jinks has made a lot of musical inroads into the public's consciousness because roughly three quarters of the audience raised their hands to show that this was their first time.
That probably made Jinks feel pretty darn good about how life has been... »»»

Eleven years ago, Kelly stepped away from music. She had just finished touring on 2007's exquisite "Translated From Love" and felt the angst of being a travelling musician with family at home. At that point, Willis and her husband, musician/producer Bruce Robison,... »»»

For a brief moment last summer, the news of Tony Kinman's death was, if not greatly exaggerated, then at least fortuitously premature. The roots rock icon, known for his work in The Dils, Rank and File, Blackbird and Cowboy Nation with his younger brother Chip, had been diagnosed with cancer in March 2018,... »»»

Until recently, Chris Shiflett took a somewhat obsessive/compulsive approach to his music career. For the past two decades, Shiflett has been the primary guitar foil for Dave Grohl in Foo Fighters; early in his tenure, Shiflett was so self-deprecatingly... »»»

With "Threads," Sheryl Crow gets the all-star-guest treatment on what she says is her swang song, with each song featuring a favorite fellow artist. She seems a little too young for this kind of tribute. Nevertheless, »»»

Midland is more magicians than musicians. When the trio came out with their omnipresent 2017 single "Drinkin' Problem," they pulled off their first trick: a brand-new band to radio who sounded like old friends. Their sound and their look (matador »»»

It's been 17 years since we've had a new album from Tanya Tucker, so it's a real pleasure to hear her clear throaty vocals deliver these songs with her characteristic raw emotion. Tucker knows how to get into a song and make it her own »»»

Eilen Jewell's "Gypsy" opens with the ominous, mysterious "Beat the Drum," which is a swampy - and yes, gypsy - song of warning about some impending doom or other. It plays out like a softer type of vintage... »»»

Rodney Crowell is a rare breed of a country songwriter. Yes, he knows how to write traditional country songs; it's just he's also a deep thinker, which requires extra effort on the part of the listener to appreciate them fully. »»»

Larry Sparks was still a teenager when Ralph Stanley chose him to replace his brother Carter Stanley as guitarist and lead singer in the Clinch Mountain Boys in the wake of Carter's passing in December 1966. »»»